arm64 as Tier 1 for FreeBSD 13

[Ed Maste]

On Wed, 4 Dec 2019 at 02:30, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:
>
> --------
> In message <CAPyFy2BXWPVOJo+GOf83sZFrPHE80-QvdHeWrhi+Tdj0KDnThg at mail.gmail.com>, Ed Maste writes:
>
> >> Binary updates and source patches for Security Advisories and Errata
> >> Notices will be provided for supported releases.
> >
> >We don't do this today, but have the ability to do so for arm64 server
> >platforms. (Due to its design, freebsd-update does not work
> >particularly well on devices with slow root filesystems such as SD
> >cards.)
>
> I don't think storage-technology should be used as a discriminant here.
>
> First because it is quite trivial to plug in a quality USB SSD (WD
> passport for instance) and use that as root filesystem.
>
> Second, just because freebsd-update takes a day to run, doesn't mean
> that people would not want it.

That's fair, although maybe I could have been more clear. My point is
that arm64 server-class hardware like Ampere eMAG and Marvell
ThunderX/ThunderX2 generally looks just like an x86 server from a
storage perspective, and freebsd-update would work just as well as it
does on x86.

Devices do exist with slow SD card root filesystems. Running
freebsd-update on them might take a very long time and might be a poor
user experience. None of that implies that FreeBSD/arm64 cannot be
Tier-1.